Maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy are associated with asthma in children

Keith M Allan, Nanda Prabhu, Leone C A Craig, Geraldine McNeill, Bradley Kirby, James McLay, Peter J Helms, Jon G Ayres, Anthony Seaton, Stephen W Turner, Graham Devereux

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Are maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy associated with asthma in 10-year-old children? In a longitudinal study of 1924 children born to women recruited during pregnancy, maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was assessed by the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and vitamin E by FFQ and plasma α-tocopherol; respiratory questionnaires were completed for the 10-year-old children. Their treatment for asthma was also ascertained using administrative data. Longitudinal analyses included data collected at 1, 2, 5 and 10 years. Symptom data were available for 934 (49%) children and use of asthma medication for 1748 (91%). In the children maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy was negatively associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma at 10 years of age (OR per intake quintile 0.86, 95% CI 0.74-0.99) and over the first 10 years (hazard ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.81-1.00). Maternal plasma α-tocopherol at 11 weeks gestation was negatively associated with children receiving asthma treatment (OR per standard deviation increase 0.52, 95% CI 0.31-0.87). Maternal vitamin E intake was negatively associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81-0.99) in the first 10 years. Low maternal vitamin D and E intakes during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of children developing asthma in the first 10 years of life. These associations may have significant public health implications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1027-1036
Number of pages10
JournalEuropean Respiratory Journal
Volume45
Issue number4
Early online date30 Oct 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2015

Bibliographical note

©ERS.
This article has supplementary material available from erj.ersjournals.com
Received: June 04 2014 | Accepted after revision: Sept 25 2014 | First published online: Oct 30 2014
Support statement: The 10-year follow-up of this cohort was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (grant
number: 80219), the recruitment and follow-up at 1, 2 and 5 years was funded by Asthma UK (grant numbers: 00/011
and 02/017).
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside the online version of this article at erj.ersjournals.com

Keywords

  • Vitamin D intake
  • Vitamin E intake
  • Pregnancy
  • Asthma
  • Children

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